1. New Conflagrations: World War II
Chapter 37
New Conflagrations: World War II

2. The Second World War Allies vs. Axis Powers
Italy, Germany and Japan form Axis
“Revisionists:” wished to revise post-World War I peace treaties
Allies initially follow policy of appeasement
War erupts 1939, global by 1941, over 1945

3. Axis Rally in Tokyo

4. Japan’s War in China Conquest of Chinese Manchuria 1931-1932
Full-scale invasion in 1937
The Rape of Nanjing
Ariel bombing of urban center
400,000 Chinese used for bayonet practice, massacred
7,000 women raped
1/3 of all homes destroyed
Japan signs Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy (1940), Non-Aggression Pact with USSR (1941)

5. Chinese Resistance
Japanese aggression spurs “United Front” policy between Chinese Communists and Nationalists
Guerilla warfare ties down half of the Japanese army
Yet continued clashes between Communists and Nationalists
Communists gain popular support, upper hand by end of the war

6. Italian Aggression
Benito Mussolini invades Ethiopia with overpowering force
2,000 Italian troops killed, 275,000 Ethiopians killed
Also takes Libya, Albania

7. Germany Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) withdraws from League of Nations
Remilitarizes Germany
Anschluss (“Union”) with Austria, 1938
Pressure on Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)

8. Munich Conference (1938) Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany meet
Allies follow policy of appeasement
Hitler promises to halt expansionist efforts
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain ( ) promises “peace for our time”
Hitler signs secret Russian-German Treaty of Non-Aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, August 1939)

9. Invasion of Poland and France
September 1, 1939
Blitzkrieg: “lightning war” strategy
Air forces soften up target, armored divisions rush in
German U-boats (submarines) patrol Atlantic, threaten British shipping

10. The Fall of France
1940: Germany occupies Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France
Hitler forces French to sign armistice agreement in same railroad car used for the armistice imposed on Germany in 1918

11. The Battle of Britain Air war conducted by the German Luftwaffe
“The Blitz”
40,000 British civilians killed in urban bombing raids
Especially London
Royal Air Force prevents Germans from invading

12. Operation Barbarossa Lebensraum (“living space”)
June 22, 1941 Hitler double-crosses Stalin and invades USSR
Stalin caught off-guard, rapid advance
But severe winter, long supply lines weakened German efforts
Soviets regroup and attack Spring 1942
Turning point: Battle of Stalingrad (ends February 1943)

13. High tide of Axis expansion in Europe and North Africa

14. US Involvement in WWII before Pearl Harbor
US initiates “cash and carry” policy to supply Allies with arms
“lend-lease” program: US lends war goods to Allies, leases naval bases in return
US freezes Japanese assets in US
US places embargo on oil shipments to Japan
Japanese Defense Minister Tojo Hideki ( ) plans for war with US

15. Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
FDR: “A date which will live in infamy”
Destroyed US Navy in the Pacific
Hitler, Mussolini declare war on the US on December 11
US joins Great Britain and the USSR

16. Wreckage from Pearl Harbor

17. Japanese Victories Japan dominates south-east Asia, Pacific islands
Establishes “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”

18. World War II in Asia and the Pacific

19. Defeat of the Axis Powers
Key factors: personnel reserves, industrial capacity
US joining the war turned the tide
Shipbuilding, automotive production especially important

20. Allied Victory in Europe
Red Army (USSR) gains offensive after Stalingrad (February 1943)
British, US forces attack in North Africa, Italy
D-Day: June 6, 1944, British and US forces land in France
US, Britain bomb German cities
Dresden, February 1945: 135,000 Germans killed in shelters
30 April 1945 Hitler commits suicide, 8 May Germany surrenders

21. Turning the Tide in the Pacific
US code breaking operation Magic discovers Japanese plans
Battle of Midway (4 June 1942)
US takes the offensive, engages in island-hopping strategy
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Japanese kamikaze suicide bombers
Savage two-month battle for Okinawa

22. Japanese Surrender US firebombs Tokyo, March 1945
100,000 killed
25% of buildings destroyed
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945
Emperor Hirohito ( ) surrenders unconditionally September 2, 1945

23. Hiroshima after the Bomb

24. Varieties of Wartime Occupation
Independent States with enforced alliances
Thailand, Denmark
Puppet States
Manchukuo, Vichy France
Military Administration
Indochina, Poland

25. Collaboration
For some, opportunity for social mobility under conquerors
Sometimes considered a lesser evil than military administration

26. Resistance Military forms of resistance Intelligence gathering
Protecting refugees
Symbolic gestures
German, Japanese policies of collective punishment

27. Nazi Genocide and the Jews
Jews primary target of Nazi genocidal efforts
Other groups also slated for destruction: Roma (Gypsies), Homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses
Nazis initially encouraged Jewish emigration
Few countries willing to accept Jewish refugees
Aborted plans to deport Jews to Madagascar, reservation in Poland

28. The Final Solution
Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads) follow German army into USSR with Operation Barbarossa
Round up of Jews and others, machine-gun executions of 1.4 million
Later in 1941 decided on “Final Solution:” deportation of all European Jews to Death Camps
Plans solidified at Wannsee Conference, January 1942

29. The Holocaust
Jews deported from ghettos all over Europe in cattle cars, spring 1942
Destination: six specially designed Death Camps in Eastern Europe
Technologically advanced, assembly-line style of murder through poison gas (Zyklon B)
Corpses destroyed in crematoria
Estimated number of Jews killed: 5.7 million

30. The Holocaust in Europe, 1933-1945

31. Jewish Resistance
German policy of collective punishment, generations of life as a minority hamper Jewish resistance efforts
Yet ghetto uprisings, armed conflict nevertheless
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, spring 1943
Jews in partisan guerilla units

32. Women and the War
WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service)
US, Great Britain bar women from serving in combat units
Soviet, Chinese forces include women fighters
Women very active in resistance movements

33. Women’s Roles Women occupy jobs of men away at war
Also take on “head of household” duties
Temporary: men returning from war displace women
Yet lasting impact on women’s movement

34. “Comfort Women”
Asian women forced into prostitution by Japanese forces
20/30 men per day, in war zones
“Comfort Houses,” “Consolation Centers”
Killed when infected with venereal disease
Large-scale massacres at end of war to hide crimes
Social ostracism for survivors

35. Deaths During World War II (millions)

36. Origins of the Cold War
US, USSR, Great Britain unnatural allies during World War II
Tensions submerged until close of war
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences (1945)
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
Decided on USSR declaration of war vs. Japan, setting up of International Military Tribunal
Free elections for Eastern Europe
Stalin arranges pro-communist governments in Eastern European countries
1946: “Iron Curtain” descends

37. The Truman Doctrine (1947) World divided into free and enslaved states
US to support all movements for democracy
“containment” of Communism
NATO and the Warsaw Pact established
Militarization of Cold War

38. The Marshall Plan
Named for George C. Marshall ( ), US Secretary of State
Proposed in 1947, $13 billion to reconstruct western Europe
USSR establishes Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), 1949
The United Nations formed (1945) to resolve international disputes